In order to boost its kitty amid reports of a cash crunch, the Congress asked its parliamentarians to donate Rs 50,000 a year to the party's coffers. The opposition Congress party has announced a range of measures to cut costs and raise funds.

Facing a lack of funds, the party has announced austerity guidelines for all party functionaries from secretaries to general secretaries. “The idea is to keep expenditure to the minimum. I am trying to save every rupee,” said Congress treasurer Pawan Bansal.

Secretaries have been asked to travel by train and when not possible at the lowest airfare. General secretaries, who are members of parliament, have been asked to use their air travel benefits for travelling.

“Secretaries, AICC would be reimbursed suitable train fare up to 1,400 km. For distances above 1,400 km, the Secretaries would be given the lowest airfare. The airfare will be given twice in a month only if the train fare is more than the airfare, they may choose to travel by air,” a Congress memo seen by NDTV read.

“Expenses on canteen, stationery, electricity, newspapers, fuel etc. should be minimized by the AICC office-bearers themselves,” it said.

Secretary and general secretary allowances of Rs 12,000 and Rs 15,000 will be cut down too, the party said.

“Most of them rarely use this amount and we are trying to curtail this expenditure too,” Bansal said.

Congress MPs have been asked to contribute Rs 50,000 every year and seek out Rs 4,000 a year as contributions from two sympathisers of the party.

Congress funds have depleted in recent years and the party is trying to ensure the proper utilisation of its war chest.

The NDTV reported earlier this month how the Congress party’s collections from electoral bonds dropped by 17 per cent in the financial year 2019-20. In 2018-19, the Congress had received Rs 383 crore from electoral bonds. In 2019-20, it received ₹ 318 crore just 9 per cent of the total electoral bonds.

In the same period, the ruling BJP made a whopping 76 per cent of the electoral bonds sold in 2019-20, shows data accessed by NDTV from the Election Commission. Altogether electoral bonds worth Rs 3,355 crore were sold in 2019-20, of which the BJP income was Rs 2,555 crore. This was a 75 per cent jump on the Rs 1,450 crore it received through the electoral bonds the previous year.

Electoral bonds, which were introduced by the government in 2017-2018 in face of major political opposition, allows individuals as well as corporations -- including those partly owned by foreign entities -- to fund political parties anonymously.

Before its introduction, the Congress had argued that through the bonds, the government was making “corruption official”.